The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns won their first Great American Conference Tournament championship Sunday with a 70-66 overtime win over Southwestern Oklahoma State. ATU will play Minnesota State-Mankato at 8 p.m. Friday in the NCAA Division II Tournament’s Central Regional in Topeka, Kan. (THE COURIER / ATU, Liz Chrisman)

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns trailed Southwestern Oklahoma State by 10 points with under six minutes remaining in Sunday’s Great American Conference Tournament championship.

Sound familiar? It should, especially to the Bulldogs. They led ATU by 10 points with under six minutes to go on Feb. 7 in Oklahoma when Suns senior Jessica Weatherford took over and led Arkansas Tech to the win.

Sunday, SWOS watched again as Arkansas Tech came back from 10 down, forced overtime and went on a 7-0 scoring run in the extra five minutes to beat the Bulldogs 70-66 and claim its first GAC Tournament title.

“Her shoulder popped out three times during the game, and most kids would have shut down,” Suns head coach Dave Wilbers said after his team cut down the nets inside Bruin Fieldhouse. “She said ‘No, I’m playing.’ She went back in, and then she delivered. (ATU trainer) Duke (Walden) did a great job keeping her in the game. He stayed up until 4:30 (Sunday) morning working with our players. How many trainers do that?

“Tikeyiah had a great drive and finish, then Cara had her drive and finish (in overtime). Those were two big-time plays. We just kept battling back. They usually say the first team that scores in overtime wins the game -- not today.”

The Golden Suns (23-6) will play Minnesota State-Mankato (25-5) at 8 p.m. Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament’s Central Regional on the campus of top-seeded Washburn in Topeka, Kan. Southwestern Oklahoma State (23-6) will play Central Missouri (24-4) on Friday.

This is the 11th NCAA Tournament trip for ATU (1998-2003, 2007-08 and 2010-11). The Suns won the South Regional and advanced to the Elite Eight in 1998-99 and 2010-11, and finished as national runner-up in 1999.

Arkansas Tech, which netted its 99th postseason victory, won its fifth conference tournament championship since 1998. The Golden Suns won Gulf South Conference tournament titles in 1998, 2003, 2010 and 2011.

Weatherford, who led ATU with 19 points and pulled down four rebounds with her injured shoulder, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. She was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Rosie Silva and freshman Caroline Eubanks of Springdale, who set a tournament record and tied a school record with 22 rebounds on Sunday.

After tussling with the Bulldogs through the first portion of the first half, Weatherford scored and Neighbors added a pair of free throws to give the Golden Suns their biggest lead of the game, 17-12, with 11 minutes showing. But SWOS tied the score 19-19 and took a lead on a pair of 3-pointers, 26-21. The Bulldogs led 31-25 at halftime.

Consecutive baskets by Weatherford got ATU within two points, but Southwestern Oklahoma State eventually increased its lead to 45-35 with 12 minutes to go.

The Golden Suns owned the offensive glass, as they recovered four rebounds during one possession where Neighbors tried two 3-pointer attempts before she hit the third at the 9:30 mark and cut the lead to 45-40.

“That was a big-time shot, a big momentum swing,” Wilbers explained. “I’m real proud of my basketball team. We had some adversity in the first half and didn’t play good at times. We didn’t play well when Jessica was out of the game. Everybody was wondering if she was done, but we took a deep breath at halftime and had to fight back.”

Arkansas Tech got within four points on Weatherford’s 17-footer with 2:15 remaining, then she hit another jumper from nearly the exact same spot to pull the Suns within 58-56 with a minute showing.

Weatherford scored her third straight bucket and tied the score at 58-all with 29 seconds on the clock. She was the only player on the floor to make any field goals in a span of 4:09 -- and she did it going in and out of the lineup with the shoulder injury.

ATU’s defense prevailed and kept the Bulldogs from getting off a clean shot. SWOS opened the extra period with three free throws, but the Suns couldn’t close their one-point deficit -- until Johnson scored on consecutive trips, Silva forced a turnover and Neighbors scored the transition basket to give Arkansas Tech a 67-66 lead with 1:09 showing.

Silva hit a layup to make it 69-66, then added a free throw with 17 seconds showing to set the final score.

“The first thing I heard when I walked in the locker room, the girls said we’ve been in this position before and we can do this. Rosie was struggling out there, then she scores five straight and Jessica scored six straight. This was one of the first times Caroline had a spring in her jump and exploded to the boards. What a great game for her.

“It takes a whole team to win championships and fight your way into the NCAA Tournament -- from the athletic administrators to trainers to managers. (Assistant coach) Julio (Pacheco) has been by my side every step of the way. He brings emotion to our team every day. He has passion, and we wouldn’t be here without him. It’s that simple. Duke (Walden) has earned his money this year with serious injuries on both our basketball teams.”

Wilbers added the Golden Suns aren’t just happy to get in the Big Dance again.

“That’s really the ultimate goal, for seniors to end their careers in the NCAA Tournament and to win championships, but it always tops it off to go to the tournament and win games,” he said. “We’re not only happy to be in the tournament, but we want to win games. This is the toughest regional in America. You get out of this regional, and you’ve got a shot to win the tournament.”